Amit Shah congratulates Team India on winning Chess Olympiad, calls it 'Proud moment'

Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the Indian team for winning the gold medal in the 2020 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad on Sunday. India has been declared joint winners of the online chess championship along with Russia. "Congratulations to Team India on winning the FIDE online #ChessOlympiad. This has been possible because of the unparalleled commitment of our chess masters," the Home Minister wrote on Twitter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier congratulated the Indian contingent for the stellar victory. 

Read: PM Modi Congratulates Team India On Chess Olympiad Victory: 'Will Motivate Other Players'

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The Indian squad at the Chess Olympiad 2020 included Vishwanathan Anand, Vidit Santosh Gujarati (captain), P. Harikrishna, Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika, Bhakti Kulkarni, Nihal Sarin, Divya Deshmukh, R. Praggnanandha, Vantika Agrawal, R. Vaishali, and Arvind Chithambaram. 

Read: India Clinch Gold After Dramatic Chess Olympiad 2020 Finale, Russia Declared Joint-winners

The dramatic final

Russia was initially declared the winner of the chess olympiad but after India officially lodged a complaint, stating that two of its players, Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh, lost connection towards the end of the game, along with several other users, FIDE decided to consider the appeal and announce India and Russia as joint winners. 

In the first round, all games ended in a draw, but it was actually a narrow escape by Russia, as India was clearly pressing for a match win. The second round started with important changes in both teams: India threw Anand into the battle, Vidit moved to board two replacing Harikrishna, and Nihal Sarin replaced Praggnanandhaa. On the Russian side, Dubov, Goryachkina and Esipenko replaced Artemiev, Lagno, and Sarana, respectively.

It's India's first such victory and the first for Russia since 2002. 

(Image Credit: PTI)

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